Ruminant species are able to effectively utilize dietary ingredients that are poorly used by monogastric species. This occurs because ruminants can ferment dietary ingredients in the reticulo-rumen compartment of their complex ruminant stomach. Digestion of protein in the rumen has long been recognized as an important factor in the productive efficiency of ruminant diet formulation.
Ruminants meet their energy and protein requirements by a combination of rumen fermentation and digestion of protein that has escaped rumen fermentation. The production of protein and energy by rumen fermentation versus rumen escape followed by intestinal digestion and absorption varies widely among feedstuffs. The feed value of a dietary ingredient can also vary with animal productivity levels and/or animal diet formulation or composition.
As animal productivity levels increase, so do the nutritional requirements for amino acids, metabolizable protein and energy. At low productivity levels, nutritional requirements are more readily satisfied by rumen fermentation products. At elevated productivity levels, the gross efficiency of rumen nutrient digestion decreases. At such times, protein synthesis by rumen fermentation may not meet the animal's demands for metabolizable protein. This shortfall of rumen protein production increases the demand for rumen bypass protein. The bypass protein may then be metabolized by the post-rumen portions of the ruminant digestive system.
Research on increased productivity levels in ruminants has focused on the quantity and the quality of nutrients that escape rumen fermentation. The rumen escape of protein may be accomplished by processing dietary ingredients, thereby altering the physical structure of the protein therein and decreasing rumen fermentation, or by influencing rumen conditions so that the rumen bypass protein content of all dietary ingredients is increased.
As production levels in ruminant animals continue to increase, there are also increased requirements for metabolizable protein and amino acids. While dietary formulations increasing rumen bypass protein content in animal feed stuffs exist, there remains a demand for improved animal feeds that provide further increased levels of protein that escape rumen fermentation.